


Our Secrets (Show That We Hurt)

by Cynder2013



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies), The Isle of the Lost Series - Melissa de la Cruz
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood and Torture, Blood and Violence, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, F/F, F/M, Family Secrets, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Torture, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Isle of the Lost (Disney) is a Terrible Place, Magic on the Isle of the Lost (Disney), Murder, Politics on the Isle of the Lost (Disney), Racism, Sign Language, Swearing, United States of Auradon (Disney) Is Not Perfect
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:01:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24206356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cynder2013/pseuds/Cynder2013
Summary: What happens when children are raised by villains? They become liars. Or they become monsters. Mal and her gang are liars. Uma and her crew are monsters. When Uma's little sister Una joins Mal, Evie, Carlos and Jay to steal the Fairy Godmother's wand, the clash of liars and a monster is going to get someone hurt.
Relationships: Ben/Mal (Disney: Descendants), Evie/Mal (Disney), Harry Hook/Original Female Character(s), Past Jay (Disney)/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 22





	1. Rotten to the Core

There is very little magic on the Isle of the Lost. There was supposed to be no magic but the song and dance routines that they get when the wind blows the wrong way nix that idea. Maybe King Beast and his cronies couldn’t configure the barrier to keep them out, or maybe they were his idea of a punishment. Like the Isle of the Lost needed more punishment.

Una, daughter of Ursula the Sea Witch, was currently trying not to be on the wrong end of punishment. She had gotten into a fight with one of the Stabbington cousins, the one that fought with knives, after he had tried to steal from a marketplace stall that was Undertakers’ territory and it had escalated until the two of them were doing their best to gut each other. The Stabbington was trying harder than Una, probably because if she won she wouldn’t actually kill him. No, Una would just make him wish he was dead, a wish that might get granted if her sister Uma got to him before Jay or Harry did. Uma’s motto may as well have been “No one hurts my sister but me” and she took the direct route to insuring that. Jay, the son of Jafar, preferred to beat anyone who hurt Una, Evie or Carlos mostly to death before robbing them of everything but their underwear (Mal didn’t need his protection, and Una was only on that list because they used to be allies of sort before they joined different gangs). Harry Hook would hook anyone who touched his girl, but only after torturing them out of their mind.

The Stabbington stabbed at Una’s arm. She dodged and lashed out at his other hand with her own knife. The Stabbington just managed to get out of the way of the knife.

And ran into her sword.

Una grinned and dragged the blade across his back, opening a bloody stripe in his shirt. The Stabbington let out a grunt that turned into a yell when the hot pepper oil pain potion every one of Uma’s pirates used on their swords kicked in. Una knew from experience that it hurt like nine levels of hell when it got in even a small cut, and the Stabbington didn’t have the pain tolerance she did.

Her knife flashed in her right hand and cut half an inch deep into the Stabbington’s right bicep. She deflected his attack with her sword and made another cut with her knife. Deep cuts and shallow cuts to keep the blood flowing. If Una was able to giggle she would have.

The wind changing spoiled her fun. Music flooded the Isle and its magic burrowed its way into her bones. Her body wasn’t under her control anymore. She scowled as she was forced to put away her weapons and run away from the Stabbington. As she swung onto the rooftops to get wherever the magic wanted her to go, she saw the Stabbington crumble to the street and begin crawling to shelter. If he was lucky he would make it to his own gang’s safe house before whatever musical number Una was being forced to be part of was over. If not then it wouldn’t be too hard for her to follow the trail of blood he was leaving and finish making an example of him. If she was magicked into singing then she would definitely want to.

The magic dragged her into the territory of Mal’s gang on the other end of the marketplace, what people on the Isle called the bazaar. Normally when she went there she was trying not to be seen but the magic was having none of that. It forced her to stand in the middle of the street waiting for the main event to arrive. She wasn’t the only one either. There were Tower gang girls glaring at Scarface boys and Stabbingtons making rude gestures at Tremaines but no one was moving more than a foot in any direction. At least they weren’t singing.

From the sound of it the people cursed with having to sing today were the Rotten Four themselves. Una hadn’t been keeping track during her dash across the rooftops, but she thought that they were well into the second verse of their song and hopefully getting closer to the bazaar. The magic was broadcasting the song over at least half of the Isle so there was no way to tell where Mal, Evie, Carlos and Jay were.

Long after Una got bored of eyeing a crystal necklace that she was just aching to steal (which didn’t take very long since Una was not a patient girl on a good day) the Rotten Four finally arrived in the bazaar. Everyone who had been waiting for them immediately jumped into a synchronized dance. As two rows of people switched places Una saw the look in Mal’s eyes and resolved to run away as fast as possible as soon as the music stopped. The self-styled queen of the Isle was going to be way more murderous than usual and Una did not want to be the person she took her rage out on.

Finally, the song ended. As the declaration that they were rotten to the core echoed through the air, the dancers prepared to scatter, to get back to their own territories before a war could start. No one on the Isle ever really felt like going to war, but sometimes it was necessary when too many people strayed too far from their unspoken rules.

Only a few of the dancers got away before the voice of one of the greatest villains on the Isle froze the rest of them in place.

“Stealing candy, Mal?”

The group turned as one to face the Mistress of Evil. Only Mal was brave enough to speak to Maleficent.

“It was from a baby,” she drawled, swinging the lollypop she’d snatched from little Cindy “we’ll call her Sin” Hook at the end of the dance number.

Maleficent gave a smile that was all teeth. “That’s my evil little girl. Give it back to the little brat and come with me.”

Mal obligingly threw the lollypop towards Sin and her mother before walking a few feet away with her own mother. Harriet Hook, Harry’s older sister and one of the eldest of the children of the Isle’s major villains, caught the candy and got out of there as quietly and quickly as possible. The other gang members not of the Four took that as their cue to make a run for it while the few people who had no affiliation (yet) tried to go about their business as usual, though they kept an eye on Maleficent and Mal.

Una made it about five feet before she was grabbed from behind by one of Maleficent’s goblins. Normally she would have stabbed him in the arm and kept running but with Maleficent right there the most she could do was struggle and keep her hands near her weapons in case the situation escalated.

“None of that,” Maleficent said. “The five of you are going to a new school in Auradon.”

The Rotten Four also got the goblin grab treatment as they tried to run away.

“I am not going to a school with prissy, pink princesses,” Mal spat.

Evie sighed. “And perfect princes.”

Mal glared at Evie and the other girl immediately made a sound of disgust that fooled exactly no one. 

“I don’t do uniforms, unless they’re leather. You feel me?” Jay said. He winked at Una, who rolled her eyes.

“I read there are _dogs_ in Auradon,” Carlos said. “My mom says dogs are vicious, rabid pack animals that eat children who misbehave.”

Jay smirked and leaned towards Carlos before barking in his ear. Carlos nearly jumped out of the grip of the goblin that was holding him.

“Yeah, Mom, we’re not going,” Mal said.

The smile on Maleficent’s face morphed into a scowl that was actually only half as terrifying as the smile had been. Still, if Una could have stepped back she would have.

“You will go to Auradon and you and your _friends_ will complete the task that the entire Isle is depending on you to complete,” Maleficent growled. “Is that clear?”

“You’re not exactly selling it, Mom,” Mal said.

“W-what are we supposed to do?” Carlos asked.

Maleficent’s smile was back. “You are going to steal Fairy Godmother’s wand.”

A few of the people who were listening in on the conversation gasped, and then immediately ran so that they wouldn’t get beaten up by a goblin. It would probably have been better for Maleficent to tell them that in private, but with Una being part of the group that really wasn’t possible.

“So we steal the wand,” Mal said. “Then what? Jailbreak?”

“With the wand and my staff I’ll be able to bend the forces of good and evil to my will,” Maleficent said with grand gestures. Then she dropped her arms and added, “And I suppose I’ll break down the barrier and let the villains wreak havoc on Auradon.”

“I’m in,” Jay said. The other four looked at him. “What? Sounds like fun.”

Una shrugged. She couldn’t argue with that. Stealing power from right under the Fairy Godmother’s nose and using it to escape the Isle for good did sound like it would be fun. And there would be plenty of people to watch suffer afterwards when the villains took over Auradon.

“Una agrees with me,” Jay said.

Mal scowled. “We do this for you, we get more than just being let off the Isle.”

Maleficent raise an eyebrow. “And what would that be?”

“A kingdom,” Mal said. “One each.”

“Two, total,” Maleficent countered.

“Three,” Mal said. “And one of them is the Moors.”

Maleficent sighed in a very harsh, dragonish way. “Three, including Atlantica and Agrabah.”

“You don’t have first dibs on those,” Mal pointed out. “Two, including the Moors.”

Maleficent gritted her teeth. “Fine. Get me Fairy Godmother’s wand and once we’re all off this blasted island the five of you will have the Moors and another kingdom of your choosing.”

“Deal,” Mal said. “When do we leave?”

“Tomorrow morning in front of our castle,” Maleficent said. “Don’t be late.”

The Wicked Fairy swept away with her goblins scrambling to keep up with her.

Mal turned to her gang and Una. “Go pack,” she ordered.

Una glared at her and very pointedly didn’t move. A growl rose in Mal’s throat and her eyes flashed acid green.

Jay sighed. “Una, could you just listen to her for once?”

Una pointed at him with one finger before spinning around and disappearing down an alley. She heard Jay telling Mal that she was going to go pack as she climbed one of the ladders lining the wall, and then she was off and running along the familiar rooftop path back to the _Lost Revenge_. 

* * *

Secret 1

Mal loves ordering people around, but she hates it too.


	2. Wicked World

Uma was on deck to meet Una when she got to their ship. News travelled fast on the Isle, especially when it had to do with the Rotten Four, so it came as no surprise when Uma dragged Una to the captain’s cabin and had her recite the exact words of the deal Mal had made with Maleficent. Una’s hand was a blur as she wrote down every word and handed the paper over to her sister so fast that it was warm.

“Freedom _and_ a kingdom,” Uma sighed once she finished reading. “And all you have to do is help the Rotten Bores steal a magic wand?”

Una nodded.

Uma laughed. “Oh, this is going to be great. Remember to read over the contract before you sign.”

Of course she would. Una was a lot of bad things, but she wasn’t stupid. Ursula was the queen of contracts. All her daughters knew their way around twisted words, empty promises, and loopholes. Contracts on the Isle tended to be full of both unless you were able to spot them and negotiate.

Uma dug another piece of paper out of her desk. “Send Gil in here after you leave. I need him to run a message.”

_“Dad/_ _Dr. Facilier,”_ Una signed with raised eyebrows.

“Yeah,” Uma said. She mimicked Una’s sign, tipping an imaginary top hat. “Maybe I can see if he and Mama Mors will let me borrow Freddie while you’re gone. I really wish Gil hadn’t inherited your father’s brains.”

Una shrugged. What could they expect from a son of Gaston who was raised by Gaston? At least he wasn’t thick-headed _and_ bloodthirsty. They’d spend more time mopping up blood than they already did with Harry and Una.

Gil was below decks playing cards with Ratlines and Jones, so it was easy for Una to shoo him towards the captain’s cabin at the stern of the ship. Then she didn’t have far to go before she reached the cabin that she’d shared with Harry for the last year. It wasn’t a large space, maybe five feet wide and twelve feet long if she was being generous, and she was almost never generous so it was more like four feet by ten feet. But it was theirs, the drawings on the walls and drops of blood on the floor proved it. Harry was out collecting payments for this week, so for now she had the room to herself. She closed the door behind her and started searching for the black canvas backpack that she knew was somewhere in their tiny closet. She used it for school when she actually bothered to go.

Once her backpack was found and emptied of homework that was a week overdue, Una took out the clothing that was hers and laid it out on the bed built into the wall opposite the door. Her second pairs of socks and underwear went straight into the bag, followed by her black leather pirate jacket and a red t-shirt that had been sliced to ribbons at the waist during a sword fight with one of Harriet’s crewmembers. She held up a black shirt that was more holes than fabric and threw it back into the closet. That belonged to Harry.

The next things she had to pack took longer to find. She hadn’t used them for more than five months, so it took her a while to remember that the rags that she used to soak up the blood on the rare occasion that she had her period were at the back of the drawer under the bed where they kept extra knives. They all went into her bag, even the ones that were washed to nearly nothing. Some girls only had old paper or dried grass and leaves tied up in a single rag for when they had their period. Una and the other girls on the _Lost Revenge_ were lucky that their gang was big enough that they could collect and trade for what they needed (the bodies they sometimes disposed of helped with that). A lot of the boys also went through clothes quickly, so they could get rags from that when sewing them back together became impossible.

With everything that belonged just to her packed, Una turned to the desk, specifically the shelf of books above it, and tried to figure out what Harry wouldn’t mind her taking with her. The books on ships and sailing and pirates were staying of course; they were Harry’s favourites. Una went past them and touched the spine of a book right below the rope that was strung in front of the books to stop them from falling off the self. Maybe this one? It was a history book written by someone from Arendelle that only had a few water spots on the front cover. Una liked the pictures in it. It was banned in Auradon though, so maybe not.

The next book was a copy of _The Jungle Book_ which also didn’t have much damage, just a torn cover and wrinkled, lightly stained pages that were probably from something that had been spilled on it. That was _their_ book. It was staying with Harry.

After a few minutes, Una decided on a paperback sci-fi novel that was missing its front cover and all of chapter five. She was adding it to her bag when the door burst open. She reached for a knife as she turned around but froze when the tip of a sword kissed her throat.

“Not quick enough, love.” Harry grinned and sheathed his sword. Una responded with a simple middle finger. Harry laughed.

_“Early,”_ Una signed.

Harry shrugged. “I heard the news so I decided to hurry back.”

That was easy to believe. Maleficent had negotiated with them in the middle of the bazaar after all. News hung out in the open like that spread across the Isle like wildfire. The witches on the other side of the island probably already knew that the Rotten Four and Uma’s little sister were going to Auradon to steal Fairy Godmother’s wand.

“Ran into a Stabbington on the way,” Harry said. “He was in good bit of pain, so I put him out of his misery.”

A slow smile crept across Una’s face. She bounced on her toes and gave Harry a kiss.

“Definitely your handiwork then.” Harry returned her smile. “Thought so. What’d he do?”

Una held her right hand out with her palm facing down, pinched all her fingers together and brought her hand across her body like she was moving something she’d picked up.

Harry narrowed his eyes. “Stole from us?”

Una nodded.

Harry made a growling sound. “Shoulda made it last longer.”

Una shrugged. The boy was already dead. No point wasting time on should haves. She kissed Harry again, slowly this time, and felt him relax.

“I am going to miss you.” Harry wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. “We’ve got enough time to make sure you won’t forget me, haven’t we?”

There wasn’t any need for Una to sign her reply.

* * *

Gil knocked on the door while they were lying next to each other and contemplating getting out of bed. It had to be Gil because the only other person who would come to their cabin while the door was closed was Uma, and she’d have come right in since it was her ship. If he’d been a few minutes earlier or later they wouldn’t have heard the knock, but as it was, Harry sighed and pulled on his pants before opening the door. Una picked up a knife from the floor and sat up so she could see around him.

“What?” Harry demanded.

“Uma wants me to tell you and Una to stop screwing and get up here,” Gil said carefully. “And she said that while we were on deck, so she must want you on deck.”

Harry sighed. “We’ll be there in a minute.” He closed the door and turned to Una. “Sometimes I really worry about him. Then I remember that him and Jay killed Shan Yu and...”

_“You worry more,”_ Una finished. Her brother, her twin, was easily led (the idea that he was optimistic and trusting wasn’t one she entertained; there wasn’t room for that on the Isle). She felt a sick twist in her stomach at the thought that she would be leaving him and thanked all the loa and sea goddesses that Uma and Harry would still be here to protect him.

Una and Harry got dressed quickly. Keeping Uma waiting was not a wise thing to do, even Gil knew that. Uma was standing on the starboard side of the deck, glaring at something on the docks. She spared Una and Harry a glace and made a gesture that wasn’t any sign but clearly meant “get over here right now!”

“Well, well,” Harry said. “Hello, Thief.”

“Pirate,” Jay said. “You still got both hands?”

Uma stopped glaring and rolled her eyes. “Enough, boys. You can play later. Jay, speak.”

“Bark,” Jay said with a smirk. He cleared his throat and quickly became all business. “I’m here to negotiate a new territory agreement.”

Uma raised an eyebrow. “Are you?” 

Jay raised his arm to show them the crown drawn on his wrist with a scribble inside that was Mal’s signature. “I speak with her voice.”

Uma nodded. “Come aboard and we’ll negotiate in private. Harry and Una will be present.”

Jay walked up the gangplank without hesitation. As Mal’s representative, he had as much protection as any gang leader invited to negotiations. Harry and Una flanked him when he set foot on the ship and they followed Uma aft to the quarterdeck, which was the highest place on the ship with a floor other than the crow’s nest. They would be fair enough away from land that they’d be difficult to overhear. Harry leaned against the ship’s wheel and toyed with his hook while Una stood next to her sister.

“I assume this has to do with your entire gang being shipped off to Auradon,” Uma said.

“You assume correctly.” Jay pursed his lips. “Mal wants you to watch our territory while we’re gone. In return, you get to keep the profits from protection.”

“What about your trade?” Uma asked. The biggest earner for the Rotten Four was the clothing and makeup that passed thought their territory, though their control over machinery and non-magic induced music was nothing to sneeze at. 

“Dizzy, Anthony and Diego have that,” Jay said. “If you want to work together, that’s your call.”

Uma clicked her tongue. “Tempting. Say we let the Tremaines and the de Vil keep your trade for themselves. Bigger territory means more patrols, more work, and we’re not going to magically get more people to do it. We’d be going out of our way for you. The protection money’s a start, but once we’re all off this island it won’t do us much good. What can you give us that we’ll get to keep?”

“A kingdom,” Jay said. “Whichever one you want and we won’t have any claim on it.”

“And all four of you will just happily stick to the Moors?” Uma scoffed. “Like I’ll believe that.” Una had to agree with her. Mal would be beyond pleased to get the Moors, but practically everyone on the Isle knew that the Evil Queen had trained Evie to get a prince and a castle, both of which the Moors was lacking. Jay and Carlos were city people. They didn’t even like to go into the meagre forest on the island (though that also had to do with the Scarfaces making their base there). They would hate living in the Moors.

Jay smirked and lowered his voice. “Who said we’d only have the one kingdom?”

Harry stood up straight and stared. Una’s eyes widened. Jay couldn’t be implying what it sounded like he was implying, could he?

“You’re joking,” Uma said.

Djinn lightning flashed in Jay’s eyes. “I’m really not.”

A slow smile crept across Uma’s face. “Then we have a deal.”

* * *

Secret 2

Most Isle kids would kill their parents if they got the chance. Others seek to depose them; killing would come afterwards.


	3. Call Me a Schemer

The contract was written on newsprint and signed in black walnut ink. It was simple, only a formality really. Maleficent and Mal already had a public verbal agreement. They wouldn’t break that. They were fae.

The contract read: _“We the undersigned agree to steal the wand of the Fairy Godmother (aka the Good Faerie/Faery/Fairy) and deliver it to the hand of Maleficent. Upon the use of the wand to take down the magical barrier around the Isle of the Lost, we the undersigned will be granted the exclusive rights to the kingdom of the Moors as well as a second kingdom of our choosing_ _as per further negotiation with those with previous claims on the second kingdom.”_

Una signed the contract last. Next to Mal Bertha Sidhe, Genevieve Haas, Carlos de Vil and Jalal Sultan, she added her own name (not her Name, _never_ her Name), Una Ursulasdatter. 

Before they left the Isle, Uma pulled Una aside. “This is yours.” She slipped her sister a pale pink, almost white, hardback notebook with plastic purple jewels on the cover. “A copy of everything in Ursula’s spellbook, plus some extras from Mama Mors.”

Una raised her eyebrows questioningly.

Uma shrugged like copying out a paranoid Sea Witch’s entire spellbook by hand without them noticing was no big deal (and Ursula hadn’t noticed; Uma’s lack of stab wounds proved that). “It was going to be your birthday present.” That explained Mama Mors’s involvement. Dr. Facilier’s wife took birthdays very seriously.

Una tucked the book into her bag. She would read it cover to cover, she would memorize it, even the spells she couldn’t do. Whatever it was that the Rotten Four had planned to trick Maleficent and overthrow their parents, she wanted to be ready for it.

* * *

They were welcomed in Auradon by the Fairy Godmother, Princess Audrey of Auroria and the Moors (somehow none of the Auradonians reacted to the burning flash of magic that flared up around Mal upon that introduction), Prince (“soon to be King”) Ben of Auradon, and a marching band of no consequence. Una wanted to burn that smile off of the Good Faerie’s face. She wanted to break the princess’s teeth. She wanted to make the Beast King’s son bleed. She kept her hands clasped tight in front of her and focused on Jay’s hand squeezing her arm near her elbow until all of them were gone and she and the Rotten Four were left with the stuttering son of Dopey and the magic writhing like eels under their skin.

The magic was partly to blame for the stuttering. Evie was even more alluring than she had been on the Isle thanks to the power she’d inherited from her mother (the succubus power, not the witch power; anyone who was anyone on the Isle knew that the Evil Queen had come back wrong).

“Remedial Goodness, huh?” Mal said. “New class?”

“Uh, yeah,” Doug, son of Dopey, said. “Bu...but you get to pick an elective and the class for your language requirement. We’ve got Arabic, French and Auradon Sign Language. Uh, Una’s already in ASL.”

Una bared her teeth in something that tried to be an apologetic smile. She didn’t care that they were pigeonholing her. It was a good thing. Fit the mould they made for her and it would make it even more fun when she put a knife through someone’s heart.

Jay tightened his grip on her arm. Mal’s eyes flicked towards the movement and the look that passed over her face disappeared behind a mask too quickly for Una to figure out what it was.

“Jay will take ASL,” Mal said. “The rest of us will take French.” Her tone left no room for argument.

Doug blinked behind his glasses before nodding and making a note. “Er, your rooms are this way.”

They went up a set of stairs and down a hallway lined with closed doors. Doug stopped at the one door without some type of lacy, pretty, ribbon-and-paper sign on it. Una thought that those signs were something like the tags the gangs on the Isle left all over their territories, marks of ownership. There were brands for that too, but they couldn’t be painted over.

“This is Mal and Una’s room,” Doug said.

Mal let out a barking laugh that was almost drowned out by the rest of her gang.

“No way,” Carlos said.

“Not happening,” Jay growled.

“That’s a very bad idea,” Evie said.

Doug shrank back against the closed door. “What? Why?”

“Unless you want to be cleaning up bodies, you won’t put Mal and Una alone in a room together,” Jay said. Which bodies they would be cleaning up he didn’t say. Una thought there’d be as much chance of her and Mal teaming up to massacre the school after they’d driven each other mad as there was of them killing each other.

Doug gulped. “We...we can switch Una and Evie? Una would be rooming with Lonnie, Mulan and Li Shang’s daughter.”

The five Isle kids shared a look. “Acceptable,” Mal said. “You’re lucky Shan Yan isn’t here.” The daughter of Shan Yu would have hunted down and gutted Li Lonnie (was that really her name?) within minutes of learning she existed.

Mal and Evie disappeared into their room and slammed the door in Doug’s face. He stood blinking at it until Carlos clapped a hand on his shoulder.

“So, where to next?” Carlos asked.

Doug adjusted his glasses. “We can see if Lonnie’s in her room?”

Lonnie wasn’t in her room, but Doug gave Una her key and she had a quick look inside before rejoining the boys. The walls were painted a light green and the furniture was made of darker wood than anything on the Isle. There were two beds that each looked like they could comfortably fit Una and all of her sisters. Una made note of the tree right outside one of the windows. It had wide, sprawling branches that looked perfect for climbing.

Jay and Carlos had a room on the next floor up. While they were looking around their bedroom, Una found their washroom and, after gawking at the size and shininess of it, turned on the faucet and stuck her hands under the cool, clear water. She drank handfuls of water leaning over the sink. The air was so dry and the ocean felt so far away. She’d always thought that she wasn’t like Uma, needing to be as near to the water as possible even though they were trapped in human form, but apparently things were different when magic was so prevalent that she could practically taste it. The air was too dry and she needed to hit someone. Or brew up a thunder storm. That could work too.

When she looked in the mirror above the sink, her eyes were shining silver.

Una turned off the water when Jay knocked on the door. She looked at him for a second before flicking drops of water in his face. He started slightly and the red glow in his eyes faded. Una lightly punched the air in front of her and raised her eyebrows.

“Good idea,” Jay said. “Doug was going to show us around outside. We could probably find space there.”

Una nodded and dried her hands on her shirt.

Outside was green. All the plants on the Isle never got to be that colour. The trees and grass that had grown there before the barrier went up were dead and dry. The dried herbs that Mama Mors and the Tower girls used all had a dusty tinge. Una stared at the green grass and the green trees and the other green plants that she didn’t know the names for as Doug took them around the school grounds. It was all so alive.

“What’s in there?” Jay asked, pointing towards a swatch of trees that seemed to go on forever.

Doug adjusted his glasses. “Just, uh, forest. We go for hikes there sometimes and if you go far enough you’ll reach the Enchanted Lake.”

Jay looked at Una and raised an eyebrow. She pointed at the forest.

“Can we check it out?” Jay asked.

“Sure, I guess so,” Doug said. He looked around at the other small groups of students who were outside. None of them would meet his eye. “Let’s go this way.”

Doug tried to stick close to the edge of the forest where they were still in sight of the school. He failed because Jay and Una, and Carlos, once he realized what they were doing, kept walking deeper into the trees to study things they’d never seen before. Well, that’s what Una and Carlos were doing. Jay moved with a single-minded purpose, not pausing to linger over interesting insects and curious birds. It wasn’t long before he called them over to a clearing about the area of the quarterdeck of the _Lost Revenge_ and told Carlos to watch their bags.

“Watch your bags?” Carlos asked. He looked at Jay and his face paled. “Watch your bags. Will do. Try not to kill each other.”

Jay flashed a grin. There was lightning in his eyes again. “Wasn’t planning on it.”

Una glared at Carlos as she and Jay dropped their bags at his feet. Carlos used a sign that everyone on the Isle knew, a hand held up palm out to say “I’m going to work with you for now”, and Una nodded. He would watch her bag too, not just Jay’s.

Una and Jay headed to the centre of the clearing while Doug was asking what was going on. They stood a few feet apart, watching each other. Una lost what little patience she had first. The magic inside her boiled over and caused lightning to crackle over her skin as she threw a punch at Jay’s gut.

Jay caught her by the wrist. She saw his eyes glow brighter than they ever had when they were on the Isle before he twisted her arm behind her back and pulled her closer to him. If it had been a real fight where they were playing for keeps he would have put a knife in her heart, but they weren’t actually trying to kill each other. Instead, he wrapped his other arm around her and grabbed her other wrist so that both of her arms were pinned. The tiny bolts of electricity that were still arcing across her skin didn’t seem to bother him at all. Of course they didn’t, Jay was a djinn.

“You’re going to have to do better than that,” Jay said.

Una hooked her foot around Jay’s ankle and pulled him off balance. He took her down with him as he fell but Una recovered faster than him. She rolled away and jumped to her feet while Jay was still on the ground. Her shoulder made a popping sound but didn’t end up getting dislocated, which was better than she’d hoped for. Jay barely gave her a chance to breathe before he came after her. His punch connected with Una’s throat and she choked for a moment before retaliating with a fist driven underneath his rib cage.

Una and Jay kept exchanging hits. As they fought, the magic that had been burning Una’s insides slowly quieted. It was still there, but it wasn’t making her feel like tearing off her own skin or anyone else’s. She might even be able to function in polite Auradon society.

Ha bloody ha. Not likely.

When Jay’s eyes stopped glowing and Una’s skin wasn’t covered in lighting anymore, the two of them stepped back. They’d mostly avoided head shots, but one of Jay’s cheeks was starting to bruise and Una could taste blood at the corner of her mouth. They both had smudges of dirt on their clothes that would be easy enough to wipe off. Una retied the black scarf keeping her braids out of her face that had gotten pulled skew during the fight. Jay’s hat was still snugly in place on his head because Jay never lost his hat.

“Are you guys better now?” Carlos asked. His eyes darted from Jay to Una and back again.

Jay stretched. “Yeah, man. Magic stuff, you know?”

Carlos nodded.

“Magic stuff?” Doug asked. “How? What? Why? Magic is highly restricted! It’s so highly restricted it might as well be illegal!”

Somehow, Una wasn’t surprised. After all, it wasn’t like nearly everything was illegal in Auradon. 

* * *

Secret 3

There’s a school for witches on the Isle of the Lost, but they aren’t the only ones who know about magic. With all the villains who were brought back from the dead, it couldn’t be any other way.


	4. Evil Like Me

Una met her roommate when they got back to the school. Doug collided with a pretty girl in a shiny pink and blue dress that looked similar to the dresses that Shan Yan sometimes wore whose black hair was braided into a crown on the top of her head. The girl caught Doug’s arm with one hand and the door frame with the other before either of them could fall over.

“Oh, hey Doug,” the girl said. “Oh! Are these the Isle kids? Hi! I’m Lonnie, Mulan’s daughter.”

Lonnie (again, was that really her name?) smiled broadly and let go of Doug so she could shake hands with each of them. She moved so quickly that Una barely registered what was going on before it happened.

“Uh, hi,” Carlos said.

Jay winked at the almost-princess. “Nice to meet you, beautiful. Call me Jay.”

Una returned Lonnie’s handshake. The other girl had a firm grip and calluses that spoke of hours of practice with a sword. Una made a note to watch her back around her.

“Una’s your roommate,” Jay said.

Lonnie’s eyes widened. “Really? I thought Genevieve was.”

“We changed it for accommodation reasons,” Doug said. “And she prefers to be called Evie.”

“Okay, cool.” Lonnie grinned at Una. “Nice to meet you, roomie.”

Una nodded. When Lonnie’s smile faltered, Una turned to Jay, pointed at Lonnie, pointed at her own throat and made a circling motion with one hand.

“Are you sure?” Jay asked.

Una narrowed her eyes at him. _“Explain,”_ she signed again.

Jay explained. Una didn’t talk, end of story. That was a lie, but like every good lie it had a grain of truth.

“Sign language is talking, isn’t it?” Lonnie asked. “I mean, technically if you’re communicating isn’t it still talking, sort of?”

Una shrugged. She used signs, gestures and facial expressions to get her point across. She didn’t really care about the semantics.

Lonnie’s eyes lit up. “Can you teach me Isle Sign Language? I know some military signs but that’s not the same.”

Lonnie linked arms with Una and dragged her into the school, chattering the entire time. Jay smirked when she looked over her shoulder for help. Jerk.

“My brother’s helping coach the swords and shields team,” Lonnie said.

That sounded interesting. Una tugged on Lonnie’s arm to get her attention and then had to figure out how to tell the Auradon girl that she wanted to know more about swords and shields. Eventually she settled for simply raising her eyebrows.

“He’s my older brother,” Lonnie said. “His name is Shangzhou.”

That wasn’t what Una was asking, but it did bring up another point.

“Why is his name Shangzhou but yours is Lonnie?” Carlos asked.

The smile on Lonnie’s face turned brittle. Her eyes darted around the hallway like she was cornered and looking for an escape route. “It’s a nickname,” she said. “Oh, look, it’s our stop. Bye, guys!”

Lonnie pulled Una into their room and locked the door behind them. She swore quietly. Una went to their desk and searched for paper and a pencil.

_What was that about?_ Una wrote.

It took Lonnie a few moments to answer. Then she stuttered, her words tripping over each other. “It’s not allowed. My name isn’t allowed.”

Una frowned. _Is it too powerful?_ Some names were like that (not Names, they were always too powerful). Naming a child Aurora, for instance, guaranteed a sleeping curse in their future and had ever since the first time Maleficent cursed a princess and woke her with True Love’s Kiss. Focusing on the current Queen Aurora, like her great-great-great-great grandmother hadn’t done the Sleeping Beauty gig first and better, was a disservice. And also stupid. There was going to be a wave of girls named Aurora falling victim to sleeping curses in a few years.

The history book that Una liked so much wasn’t only pictures.

Lonnie shook her head. “It’s too difficult. I’m not allowed to use it. They call Shangzhou ‘Shang Junior’ too, because his full name is too difficult. We get in trouble if we use our real names.”

...Auradon was all stupid, wasn’t it?

_Fuck them. It’s your name. Fuck them._

A wet laugh escaped from Lonnie’s mouth. She covered her face with both hands and sank to the floor, hiccupping through tears.

_Will you tell me your name?_ Una asked once the other girl was done crying.

A smile spread across the daughter of Mulan’s face. “I’m Lanlei.”

* * *

Una taught Lanlei a few of her signs before they went downstairs for dinner. If they were going to be roommates for an unknown length of time, it was only logical that they have a faster way to communicate than writing. _“Run”_ was one of the signs. So were _“help”_ , _“wait”_ , _“don’t be stupid”_ and _“I’m going to work with you for now”_.

“I guess saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ isn’t really your thing,” Lanlei said.

Una shook her head. _Never say thank you. You can get caught in a contract. Faeries like doing that._

Lanlei’s eyes widened as she finished reading. “I feel like that’s something our parents should have taught us.”

Una shrugged.

Dinner at Auradon Prep wasn’t nearly as wild as mealtimes on the _Lost Revenge_. There were hundreds more people but the dining hall was as large as every inch of the ship put together and students were talking quietly to others at their table instead of shouting across the room. It also didn’t look like anyone had been stabbed over a piece of food, but that hadn’t happened on the _Lost Revenge_ in years.

And then there was the food.

Lanlei laughed when Una gawked at the platters of (not burnt, not mouldy, not rotten) food and then dragged her away to introduce her to Chef Bouche’s chicken pot pie. Una also got a bread roll (not mouldy!) and something called a salad that was a lot of vegetables (not rotten!) mixed together.

“Hey, your friends are over there,” Lanlei said. She headed towards the table where Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos were sitting surrounded by at least two empty seats in every direction. Una followed her. Lanlei and the Rotten Four were the closest things she had to allies. “Hi! Can we sit here?”

Mal barely looked up from her plate. “Am I stopping you?”

Lanlei took that as permission and sat down next to Evie. Una sat down across from her, next to Jay and far enough from Mal that it would be too much of a hassle for either of them to try to strangle the other. A large majority of the meal was spent listening to Evie and Lanlei talk about fashion, which was...a thing. It was a thing.

Jay passed Una a slip of paper under the table while Lanlei was distracted by a debate about metallic fabric. She unfolded it without looking and scanned what he’d written while taking bites of food. It took a moment to match up their old code with the layout of Auradon Prep. The tree outside her room’s window, huh? Hopefully it was as climbable as she thought it was.

When they were all finished eating, Una ended up getting dragged away by Lanlei _again_ and introduced to her friends. Fairy Godmother’s daughter Jane, Queen Kidagakash and Milo Thatch’s daughter Mika, and Queen Tiana and King Naveen’s daughter Tamara crowded into Una and Lanlei’s room. They didn’t leave until close to curfew. Despite burning off the extra magic that had built up inside her on the Isle, electricity arced between Una’s fingers. Being in an enclosed space with a bunch of strangers (enemies) was stressful. None of the other girls seemed to notice the light show.

Lanlei fell asleep quickly after her friends left. Una waited. Curfew was at nine. At nine thirty Una opened the window.

The distance from the window to the ground was more of a drop than a climb. After a few branches that were very easy to climb down with there was nothing standing between Una and the ground below. She judged how far it was and jumped. The earth gave slightly under her feet, unlike the brinks and concrete she would have landed on back on the Isle. People had broken bones jumping from the roofs there when they landed right. Landing wrong was a fast way to get killed.

There were more soft thuds as Jay, Carlos, Evie and Mal reached the ground. They’d climbed right down the side of the building. Mal shot Una a look that promised a painful death if she screwed this up. It would have been nice if Una knew what she was supposed to not screw up, but writing a note in a code they hadn’t used for four years didn’t exactly make lengthy explanations easy.

“The wand’s in a museum,” Jay said quietly. “We’re getting it now.”

Una nodded.

Carlos led the way through the forest to a road that apparently went right up to the back door of the museum. He held out an arm to stop them from emerging from the trees. “There’ll be security cameras.”

“Hang on.” Mal took a book with a dragon on the cover out of her bag and flipped through it. “‘For five of us with enemies near, let all who see us forget we were here.’”

The air around them burned with magic. A spellbook, Mal had a spellbook. Of course she did. Maleficent was the most powerful magic user on the Isle.

The magic twisted around them, almost suffocating. Una forced herself to keep breathing evenly until it settled.

“It’ll work on cameras and it lasts three hours,” Mal said. “Let’s go.”

It took another two spells to get into the museum. One to put the guard to sleep using Maleficent’s spinning wheel that was sitting there begging to be used and one to open the door faster than any of them would have been able to pick the lock. Then the five of them made their way through the museum to the grand staircase where Carlos said the wand was located. They lost Mal for a song in the Hall of Villains but that magic didn’t sink its claws into the rest of them so Una didn’t mind. She did make sure to keep at least two people between her and Mal when Mal rejoined them though.

Even though it was nighttime, the inside of the museum was bright. The walls and floors were made of cream-coloured stone that should have shown every bit of dirt that had ever touched it but was somehow pristine. Their footsteps echoed in the empty halls. It was eerie.

“It should be right up ahead,” Carlos said.

The hallway somehow grew brighter and then they were standing in a round room between two sweeping staircases with Fairy Godmother’s wand floating in front of them. All five of them stopped and stared.

“Whoa,” Jay said.

“Agreed,” Evie said. Una nodded.

There was so much magic in the white and gold stick that Una thought the museum should have exploded trying to contain it. 

Mal got out her spellbook again. “There’s some sort of force field around it.” She tried a few spells that didn’t do anything. “A seriously strong force field.”

Una tapped Jay’s shoulder and held up a hand crackling with electricity. She gestured towards the wand.

“That might work,” Jay said. “Hey, Mal, what if we electrocute it?”

Mal glared at the wand like that would make it jump into her hand. “Sure. Fine. Have at it.”

Jay grinned and raised his hands. Red lightning arched from his fingers. Una raised her own hands and gave her lightning a push. The electricity collided with the force field. There was a loud crack and a shower of sparks.

An alarm started ringing.

“Shit!” Mal reached for the wand but was stopped by the force field that was still in place. “Let’s go. We need a new plan.”

They ran. The guard, who had probably been woken by the alarm, completely ignored them as he ran past them back towards the wand. At least that spell worked.

They kept running until they were back in the forest. Then they had to slow down or risk tripping and breaking their necks.

Mal glared at Una, her eyes glowing acid green in the darkness. “Great job, _pirate_. Now we have to go to school tomorrow.”

* * *

Secret 4

Li Lanlei isn’t the only child whose name has been taken away from them to suit Auradon’s French and English bias. She is the one who can make sure it never happens again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an AU, so I can totally fudge the layout of the museum. 
> 
> Lanlei is named after her mother (lan=orchid and lei=flower bud, Mulan literally means "wood orchid", so Lanlei is an orchid bud. I thought it was cute). Shangzhou is literally just named after his dad and his grandfather, because I didn't like that he just got the same name as his dad when none of the other characters did. I'd expect the royals to repeat names, not the military family.


End file.
